Come Party With Me: Camping Trip - Menu (Part 1)

When planning a camping trip, select a menu before you leave the house and get as much as you can done in advance. For a weekend getaway, you should prep Friday & Saturday dinners and Saturday & Sunday breakfasts and lunches. For Friday afternoon's arrival at the campground, have a cooler of store bought snacks ready. Creamy cheeses, chips and dips, and sliced salami will tide guests over while setting up the tent. For the main course reheat already made corn chowder over the campfire. A green salad with fresh fruit pairs nicely with the chowder. Don't forget the fixings to s'mores, the classic campground dessert. The following morning for breakfast, scramble a big batch of herbed cream cheese eggs, serve bacon, toast, and sausage as hearty sides. For these tasty recipes,

Simmer chowder until potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes longer. (Can be prepared to this point 1 day ahead. Cover and chill bacon. Cool soup slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated. Bring to simmer before continuing.)

Melt butter in large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in Sherry and thyme. Add mushroom mixture to chowder. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Saute crabmeat in same large skillet over medium-low heat just until heated through, about 3 minutes. Divide crabmeat, reserved bacon and parsley among bowls. Ladle chowder over and serve.

In a small pie plate, toast the almonds for 8 minutes, until fragrant. Toss with 1/2 teaspoon of the almond oil and sprinkle with salt.

In a mini processor, puree the chopped nectarine. Transfer the puree to a small bowl and add the shallot, vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk in the olive oil and the remaining 1 tablespoon of almond oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the sliced nectarines and the blackberries in a medium bowl. Drizzle on one-third of the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper.

In a large shallow bowl, season the arugula with salt and pepper and toss gently with the remaining vinaigrette.

Gently toss in the dressed fruit. Garnish with the almonds and serve immediately.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add egg mixture, and cook, without stirring, until eggs begin to set on bottom. Sprinkle cream cheese cubes evenly over egg mixture; draw a spatula across bottom of skillet to form large curds.

Cook until eggs are thickened but still moist. (Do not stir constantly.) Remove from heat. Stir in chopped basil before serving, if desired, and garnish, if desired.

When I was younger and camped, we used to cut an orange in half, scoop out the fruit and in the empty peels we would put in muffin batter (we used a mix, but you could bring your own mix and add the liquids in at camp). We would then wrap them in tinfoil and place in the coals for about 20-25 minutes until cooked. Sometimes we would put an egg in one half of the orange, a muffin in the other side, and eat the orange middles. A complete breakfast. The orange peels added a nice taste to the muffins.